I sat up.
“Maren?”
I listened sharply, ears straining to hear her again, but all there was, was the sharp patter of snowflakes and ice pellets against the high window.
I was alone.
I needed to stay that way.
4
Eden…
“Did your dad freak out? I bet he totally freaked out at you,” my best friend, Harmony, said. She was only a year younger than me and was the eldest daughter of Ghost and Shelly. Shelly happened to be Reaver’s younger cousin, and it got a little ridiculous sometimes how intertwined club and family could get with them.
“Yeah, he freaked out,” I said with an exasperated noise. Harmony laughed.
“You totally brought that one on yourself, you know.”
“I know, but what else was I supposed to do?” I cried. “I was worried about Sage. You didn’t see the look on his face when he left the media room.”
“Of course, I didn’t; I was babysitting… again.” I could practically hear my best friend’s eyes rolling over my phone.
“The curse of being the oldest,” I said dryly. I’d put in more than my fair share in the past with my brother and with Harmony’s younger siblings. She was seventeen to my eighteen and was dying for some freedom. Probably just so it would be easier to keep hooking up with my younger brother, Dante. I shuddered. She didn’t know that I knew and if my mom and dad found out? Dante was so fucked and not in a good way.
It might be the thing that finally pushed my dad over the edge into whooping my little brother’s ass. Lord knew Dante needed it sometimes!
Still, just thinking about him with my best friend? Gross. I didn’t care if they were the exact same age. When it came to all us club kids? I don’t know, it’s like doing your cousin or something.
Ew.
Except Sage. Sage was different, and it wasn’t just the age gap.
“So, you guys found him. Then what?”
“Then nothing. He went back to the club, and Slice brought me home.”
She sighed and said, “You know, if I had to pick between Slice and Dice, I’d pick Slice every time.”
“Harmony, that’s gross! Slice is your cousin!”
“Oh, my God! Not for me! For you! Dice is just so damn… broody all the time.”
“Uh, yeah, of course he is… he’s been through more than his fair share.”
“Haven’t we all?” she asked.
I scoffed in disbelief. “No, Harmony. Not like that. Not like Smoke.”
She sighed and said, “Yeah, you’re right. I wasn’t thinking when I said that. I guess… I guess I’m just jealous and a little afraid.”
“Jealous of what?”
“I mean, you’re my best friend, and I already feel like I don’t see that much of you anymore. This year is a total drag at school.”
“It’s your senior year,” I protested. “You should be living it up!”
“It’s just not the same without you.”
Silence stretched over the airwaves and I flopped onto my back in the middle of my bed and sighed.
“I know,” I said. “I miss you, too.”
“Augh, I can’t wait for Christmas break!” she cried, and I smiled.
“Me either. I can’t wait to do Twisted Christmas Movie night tonight.”
“Me either,” she said, then added slyly. “You going to be able to keep your eyes on the screen and off of Dice?”
“Probably not,” I admitted, and we both fell into squeals and peals of laughter.
Harmony suddenly gasped on the other end and then shouted, “Oh my God, Ranger! You fucking little turd!” I heard a smack and her twelve-year-old youngest brother yelled, “Ow” and then wailed, “Moooooom!”
“Whelp, I’d better go,” Harmony said, sourly.
“Have fun with that,” I declared.
She said, “See you tonight!” and the phone gave the disconnect tone in my ear.
“Ugh,” I groaned and heaved a big sigh. As annoying as my own little brother could be sometimes, he was seventeen and had, for the most part, grown out of that phase.
A knock fell at my bedroom door and I sighed, knowing the signature sound for what it was…
Speak of the devil, I thought, and on the heels of that thought, the realization that the irony of our names still held true.
Dante poked his shaggy dark head into my room and looked at me with our mother’s eyes. I’d gotten the opposite coloration. Mom’s wild red curls and Dad’s deep brown eyes.
“Can I have the car?” he asked.
“You mean my car?” I shot back. I mean, Dante had wrecked his, and I paid for everything when it came to mine by working at one of Aunt Evy’s coffee stands.
“Whatever,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Can I borrow it?”
“No,” I said, pushing myself up into a sitting position. “It’s Twisted Christmas Movie Night.”
“I would come back and get you.”
“No way. I don’t want to be late, but I’ll give you a ride to wherever it is you want to stop. Where you going?”
“Ugh, fuck, never mind!” He disappeared from my doorway and went down the hall, and I smirked.
To pick up Harmony early? I thought to myself. Sorry, not sorry, little brother. I am so not helping you bone my best friend.
I got up and gave a luxurious stretch before I poked around my room to find a cozy yet flattering outfit for tonight. It was a fine balance, let me tell you. I mean, for the most part, this was for the older kids and the guys who were still big kids no matter what their age. The only person I would really be out to impress was Sage. I definitely didn’t want to give any of the boys my age the wrong idea, and likewise, I didn’t want any of my uncles giving me shit or making fun of me for overdoing things.
Sometimes, being the daughter of a club brother and the oldest girl out of all of us kids was a pain in the ass. I mean, I wasn’t like club royalty like a club princess or anything – if anybody held a title it would be Dray and Evy’s boy – Stephen. The rest of us kids joked he was the crown prince of the Sacred Hearts and he hated it, but it wasn’t a lie. Not exactly. Although, Dray and Ev never treated him any differently than the rest of us.
The problem was getting any of the ‘adults’ in the club to stop seeing me as a six-year-old in a fairy princess dress and to get them to start seeing me for the adult that I am. None of the boys had half the problem with that shit as us girls did… but then again, the MC life did have its inherent misogynistic ways to it. Likewise, it certainly had its feminist ways. Just about every single woman of the SHMC had no problem taking their men to task for their bullshit when they decided to lay it on too thick.
I’d seen my mom turn on my dad more than once and let’s not even talk about when Aunt Evy went off – or worse, Aunt Shelly.
Aunt Shelly was fearless. I’d watched her go toe to toe with my dad when he was so worked up, he had that vein popping out of his forehead and his neck went all red like he was really about to blow his stack.
It’d been such a mix of awe-inspiring and terrifying, I can’t even tell you.